The Pain of Embarrassment
by Karen Weasley
Summary: Hermione deals with being injured at the Ministry at the end of her fifth year, but that isn't all she has to deal with during her stay in the hospital wing...


**Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition round 3. My prompt this round was to write about my OTP (one true pairing) dealing with a physical injury. I hope you all enjoy!**

 _ **The Pain of Embarrassment**_

Hermione hated being in the hospital wing at the best of times, but this time was worse because she was embarrassed. Sure, she had been turned into a cat in her second year thanks to polyjuice potion and been spitting up hairballs, and her teeth had resembled a beaver's last year, but this was far worse than both of those experiences, and it was all _his_ fault.

Lying in her bed still wincing from that spell that had lashed across her stomach, Hermione wanted to hide under the covers until all the visitors left for the very simple reason that she didn't want _him_ to see her like this. How could she recover from it? She was trying to ignore him, but he wasn't making it easy by any means…

"Well, Ron, Mum always told you to use your brain and not someone else's. I guess we know why now," Fred Weasley said sagely to his younger brother.

"Stuff it, Fred," Ron groaned. "This is painful enough without your bad jokes on top of it."

"Bad jokes?" Fred cried in mock indignation. "I'll have you know that most of the Wizarding World seems to think differently, little bro."

"We have become quite popular," George agreed. "Had a job closing the shop early to get here."

"Yeah, we had to chase people out with dungbombs," Fred laughed.

"Including that group of rather attractive witches who seemed much more interested in us than the merchandise, remember Fred?" George laughed with a gleam in his eye.

Fred cast an almost imperceptible glance over his shoulder at Hermione who simply buried her face into the sheets and refused to meet his eyes. "Yeah…them…" Fred muttered distractedly.

Hermione rolled away from the conversation around the bed beside her and stared at the wall, suddenly in more pain than she had been a moment ago. The very idea of Fred being flirted with by a crowd of beautiful girls was enough to make her heart clench and her stomach throb with pain not coming from the curse.

It wasn't as though she and Fred were serious or anything, but she had recently begun to admit to herself that her feelings ran deeper. She and Fred had started…well…"seeing each other" for lack of a better term several months ago, after they had come back from Christmas. They had spent a great deal of time together through the summer, then the DA, and then over the holidays, that they had no longer been able to deny the chemistry between them.

Fred had been the one to ask her out, which she had hoped meant something, but Hermione knew she was no prize. She wasn't gorgeous, she was too smart, and she was a good girl, something that she knew Fred would get bored with eventually. Being prepared for the inevitable certainly didn't help being faced with it, but Hermione was determined not to burst into tears here in the hospital wing not five feet from where he was sitting. She would just have to suck it up, like she always did.

Fred kept glancing over his shoulder at Hermione as his brothers continued to snipe at each other. He knew that George's comment had upset her – he would have to be blind not to see how it had bothered her. He wished he could go over and talk to her, but they were still keeping their relationship under wraps, and he didn't want to let the cat out of the bag without asking her first.

She had seemed a bit upset when he first walked in, and he wasn't going to even pretend he knew why, but he was quite worried about her. When he had heard that she had been hurt at the Ministry, his head had snapped around trying to find out how much. He had horrible visions of her bleeding, screaming in pain, or even dying as he and his twin rushed to Hogwarts to see their friends. It had been a huge relief when he had seen her awake and coherent, and he had wished for nothing more than the ability to run to her, but he had restrained himself for her sake. Now he just wanted everyone to go to sleep so he could sneak back in and visit with her.

When the lights finally went out, Hermione released her death grip on the covers and sank back into her pillows, staring at the ceiling hopelessly. She had been crazy, no, _insane_ to think that Fred would actually like her for an extended period of time. Why on Earth would he? She fought back tears but felt several escape and slide down her cheeks onto the pillow beneath her.

He hadn't even said a word to her when he came to visit. She had caught him looking, of course, but that just meant he was reluctant to speak to her, right? She wanted to cry…badly. Her heart hurt, her stomach hurt, and she was still in pain from the curse at the Ministry – she wanted to cry and let the world see her pain, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

Hermione prided herself on being strong and never letting anyone knock her down a peg. Deep down, she was too afraid she wouldn't be able to pull herself up again if someone hurt her, so she never let anyone see her cry. She had just rolled over to try and force herself to sleep when she heard the door to the hospital wing creak open.

She froze in her bed and listened with all her might to try and figure out who the footsteps belonged to, but it was no good. Suddenly, she felt her bed sink a bit by her left knee, and she heard the curtains swoosh shut then the muttering of a spell.

"Mione?" a voice called to her, and Hermione felt her stomach clench as she recognized Fred Weasley. "Mione?" he called again, slightly louder, and she felt him gently shake her shoulder.

Hermione turned her head just enough for him to see that she was awake, but she wasn't ready to face him just yet…her tear ducts weren't quite in check.

"Thank Merlin!" Fred breathed when he saw she was awake. "I've been dying to talk to you for hours now! You have no idea how hard it was not to run over here when I first showed up."

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Hermione reasoned quietly. "You do have that crowd of girls to go back to, after all."

Fred groaned – he had known that was coming. "Mione, love, you know that doesn't mean anything to me. I have you, what else could I possibly want?"

"Anything else!" Hermione argued. "I'm not your type, Fred, and I think it's time we stop pretending I am."

"Y-you're breaking up with me?!" Fred whispered shakily. "Mione…don't!"

"Why not?" Hermione sniffed. "It'll be easier on me to just end it now than see you cheating on me months down the road because you're afraid to tell me the truth."

"Hermione, what has gotten into you?" Fred demanded. "No, roll over and talk to me."

Reluctantly, Hermione turned and gasped at the pain that shot through her abdomen.

"Are you alright?" Fred asked anxiously.

"I'm fine!" Hermione snapped, embarrassed he had seen her in pain. "Now, what do you want?"

"What did I do?" Fred demanded. "I didn't come over and talk to you like I wanted to because I was afraid you would be upset if people found out about us. I was trying to think of you! Then I sneak back in here just to see if you were alright only to have you try and break up with me! Hermione…what is going on?"

Hermione was holding her breath in a last vain attempt to hold back her tears. She would _not_ cry in front of him, she would _not_ cry in front of him, she would not… "It's nothing, Fred," she forced out. "I'm just tired is all, I'm sorry."

"Sorry, Mione, that's not going to cut it tonight," Fred sighed. "Something's wrong, so let me help you. At least tell me what's wrong even if I can't fix it. I'm your boyfriend…it's my job, so let me do it!"

Hermione couldn't hold back anymore. Tears started to pour down her cheeks faster than she could catch them with her hands, and her mortification grew, but she was powerless to stop the flood of emotion.

Fred sat stunned as his girlfriend burst into tears beside him, but he hastily recovered and moved to sit on the bed beside her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. After a moment, he gently began rocking her slightly and whispering quietly to her. "It's ok, Mione, I'm here…let it out. You're safe."

Eventually, Hermione's tears slowed enough for her to speak, and Fred tried again.

"What's wrong, love?"

"I know I don't deserve you," Hermione gasped. "I'm nothing special, I can't even block a curse for Merlin's sake! You deserve to be with a model who can be happy just laughing on your arm while you make your millions of galleons for being so bloody brilliant. I knew this wouldn't last, but it still hurts to see you with someone else because…because…because I actually _care_ about you!" She hiccupped a few times as they sat in silence before adding, "And it really hurts to cry because of the curse."

Fred rubbed her shoulder soothingly. "Well, I may not be able to fix the curse wound, but I can fix everything else. Hermione, I care about you too, believe it or not. I don't _want_ to be with some model with no brains, and I certainly don't want to break up with you. I just got you! Do you really think I'm just going to let all that work go to waste?"

"Work?" Hermione repeated.

"Yeah," Fred replied, shaking his head. "I spent all summer and every DA meeting just trying to get your attention. I knew I didn't really have a chance, but I had to try, you know? When you agreed to go out with me, it felt like the world was ending and starting all at the same time. I had no idea what to do at first, and I still don't, to be honest. I want to take care of you, but sometimes I feel like you won't let me. I know you're tough and can handle yourself, but you don't have to be alone anymore, Mione. You have me now, and I want you to understand what that means. It means you don't have to hide your emotions from me, it means you can tell me when something bothers you, it means you are allowed to cry on my shoulder, and it certainly means you can show your pain. I don't think it makes you less appealing, quite the opposite. I want to be with you for _everything_ about you. Get it?"

Hermione stared at him in shock. Did he really mean it? How could he?

"You still doubt me, don't you?" Fred asked with a sigh.

"It's…it's habit, Fred," Hermione admitted. "No one's ever said that to me before. I suppose it will take some getting used to, but I can try for you. I don't like people seeing me down…it's just fuel for a fire."

"I would never use your pain against you, Mione," Fred promised solemnly. "You went to that Ministry to face off against Death Eaters! Frankly, it's a miracle you're even alive, not that I'm surprised," he added hastily, "but I am relieved. I'm really proud of you, though."

"It still hurts," Hermione whimpered. "Madame Pomfrey says it may take a while to heal completely."

"Well then, I'll just have to stay with you until then," Fred announced, swinging his legs into the bed and curling up beside her.

"Wait what?" Hermione spluttered.

"Look, Mione, I know you wanted to wait, but I want everyone to know you're mine. I want to be able to hold you when you're hurt, and I want to be able to be concerned about you without having to hide it. When I heard you were hurt…Hermione…I couldn't breathe until I saw you were alright, and then I couldn't even show you that. It hurt."

Hermione stared into his ocean eyes for a moment before nodding slowly. "I…I can be ready to tell people," she said. "I wanted you to come and hold me too, but I knew you wouldn't, and that hurt too. If I'm going to get better at being a girlfriend, I should start by being public with it."

"I'm proud of you Hermione," Fred grinned. "We'll get better at this together, yeah? But first, let's take care of your curse wound, alright? Will you let me take care of you?"

Hermione nodded and curled closer to Fred under the covers. "Feel free."

Fred chuckled and tugged her closer. "You'll be healed in no time, I promise. Then you can test this new product George and I made!"

"NO!" Hermione said firmly into his chest.

"Oh come on, love, what are you afraid of? It won't turn you purple or anything!" Fred prodded.

"NO!" Hermione repeated.

"Please?" Fred begged.

"NO!"

"Why not?"

"NO Fred Weasley, no!"


End file.
